PUBLIC ART WALK THROUGH BUNKER HILL

"Angelus" by Robert Vargas
Photo: Chela Simon-Trench

LET'S GO SEE SOME ART...
Once home to romantic Victorian mansions and sycamore trees that overlooked a young Los Angeles, Bunker Hill has been transformed into the cultural heart of the city’s glittering skyline. Architectural masterpieces like Frank Gehry’s stunning Walt Disney Hall shaped like an abstract rose, the red brick and glass pyramids that top the Museum of Contemporary Art by Arata Isozaki, and the vision-warping Broad Museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro are Bunker Hill’s mansions of today. These buildings hold some of the most important modern and contemporary art in the world. But outside these stunning collections, the neighboring streets are filled with world class public artworks as well. No need to buy a ticket or wait in line— just bring a pair of walking shoes and your imagination.

ANGELUS MURAL (ONGOING) BY ROBERT VARGAS

Starting around Pershing Square, look East to see the massive Angelus mural overlooking the park by LA native artist Robert Vargas. Angelus celebrates LA diversity– at the top of the mural are three angels: one is modeled after Vargas’ mother, another represents a homeless woman who would watch Vargas while he was painting the mural, the third is not defined. Below the angels is an indigenous girl from the Tongva tribe, who originally populated the Los Angeles basin. Her hands form the sign “unity” in American Sign Language. Vargas paints her as an original Angeleno, overlooking her city. In 2020, Vargas added Kobe Bryant flying through a blue sky waving his fist triumphantly as an homage to the late basketball legend. The mural is still alive and in progress– Vargas is working to be entered in the Guinness World Record book for the largest mural painted completely freehand by a single artist

"LA FAMILY BAROQUE" (1992) BY BILL BARRETT

 LA Family Baroque by Bill Barrett
Photo: Chela Simon-Trench

Begin a three-minute walk down 5th Street toward the Los Angeles Public Library. Stop at the One Bunker Hill Building. In the art deco enclave marked by the ‘Torrey Pines Bank’ sign is Los Angeles sculptor Bill Barrett’s LA Family Baroque. This work is a large-scale bronze sculpture that evokes the traffic of busy bodies as they bustle through a humming lunch hour on Bunker Hill. Forms stretch out from the sculpture’s center in the same way that arms swing on power walking passersby; from certain angles, a profile of a face can be seen in the overlapping bronze forms. Who is the face? The work’s title suggests it could be you, me, or anyone else living in this LA family.
 

"DOUBLE ASCENSION" (1969) BY HERBERT BAYER

Double Ascension by Herbert Bayer
Photos: Chela Simon-Trench

Continue your walk down 5th Street toward the Los Angeles Public Library, walk past its entrance and make a left into the Maguire Gardens. Take a moment to linger in the unique Islamic architecture-inspired gardens. Then head straight through towards Flower Street. You will see Double Ascension pretty quickly– sculptor and typographer Herbert Bayer’s fire orange staircases ascending out of a sixty-foot diameter circular pool of water. The piece was originally titled “Stairway to Nowhere,” but the oil company that originally commissioned it found that title too bleak a commentary on capitalism. The work is prominently featured in a scene from the thriller Marathon Man (1976) starring Dustin Hoffman. Spend time with this climbing work– try sitting in different spots on the benches encircling the piece. It is mesmerizing, maybe even eerie from certain angles…

Now walk over to 444 South Flower, the Citigroup Center, where you will find artworks by some of the most important modern and contemporary artists.

"NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST" (1981) BY MICHAEL HEIZER

North East South West by Michael Heizer
Photos: Chela Simon-Trench

At the Dia Art Foundation museum in Beacon, New York, Michael Heizer originally created North, East, South, West (1967) – geometrically shaped, massive craters in the museum’s stone ground. That work asks viewers to meditate on negative space and crater forms as symbols of mother earth, and how she constantly gives back to humanity. Heizer was then commissioned to recreate the piece in the 444 S Flower St lobby, but the building’s structure would not allow for the necessary depressions in the ground. Instead, Heizer made the steel, geometric, solid shapes that would fit into the craters in Dia Beacon. Each shape symbolizes a different direction– North (rectangle), South (cone), East (frustum), West (wedge). On opposite sides of the country, these two artworks call to each other – they even go by the same name.

"LONG BEACH XXIII" (1982) BY FRANK STELLA

Long Beach XXIII by Frank Stella
Photo: Chela Simon-Trench

Continue to the back of the lobby, past the Heizer, and find a Frank Stella sculptural work, Long Beach XXIII, hanging on the wall. Stella is known for his minimalist compositions, but this work feels maximalist. It is one of 95 works from Stella’s “Circuit” series. A major facet of Stella’s practice is abstracting things he sees in daily life. This work is an abstraction of automobile speedways. Thinking of its Los Angeles context, the piece reflects our freeways that twist like rollercoasters.

* Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, 633 West 5th Street, Suite 1800, Los Angeles, CA 90071, USA